NGO
PRIVATE SECTOR
ST U D EN TS ACA
DE M IC S
Active
learning
In the teaching and learning process, lecturers need to be innovative in finding out which approach suits best in their classes. Apart from the fact that the environment and facilities at the university may not support lecturers to be innovative enough in their teaching and learning practices, some of them are not innovative simply because they lack competences and skills on innovative pedagogy. One of the students involved in pilot classes happily said this
“I am happy with these new active teaching and learning methods; they have helped me to build self-confidence,
enhanced my team working spirit, time management and helped me to be a hard worker”
Students did their reading circles to enrich their projects. Fourteen teams were doing different projects, each team had various sessions for a reading cycle. Topics were selected by students themselves; this made them be active readers, helped them to search various databases and information sources ranging from informal sources to formal sources. Through reading cycles they were able to learn and uncover a lot of innovative ideas for their projects and their daily social life as attested by one of the students;
“Reading cycles helped me to get a lot of information from various sources of information. I have realized that I can do a lot of things just by reading various articles”
One of the students had this to say about seminar presentations;
“Personally seminar presentations made me read a lot to prepare myself. I have also gained confidence and presentations skills”
Some training sessions took place during pilot phase one and two.
Training sessions were student-driven and the topics for training emerged from their projects. Fourteen teams did their projects. The scheduled timetable which occupies two hours per session was not enough. Most of the training sessions were done on Fridays which was reserved for student’s project activities and personal studies. Through training sessions, students were able to learn multiple skills such as presentation skills, communication skills, and teamwork. It also helped
students to sharpen their language skills and build confidence to speak to a large audience as attested by one of the students;
“Training Sessions has helped me in building self-confidence and speaking in front of people anywhere and at any time”
Training sessions were followed by an active discussion and feedback.
Presenters received feedback from them. This helped the presenters to evaluate their presentation and get more information on how to improve their training sessions. On the other hand, it also helped the students to inculcate a culture of receiving the feedback positively and work on it for further improvement of their work.
Another piloted element was conducting projects. Students divided themselves into teams. Each team comprises of 4 to 8 students and they were assigned coaches to guide them in the course of doing their projects. A total of fourteen independent teams were formed. Each team had a chairperson, secretary, treasurer, and other team members.
Based on the piloted courses each team selected a project to work with to solve community problems. Project topics ranged from information service provision and training to ICT based projects. Each team had a meeting schedule where they arrange for reading cycles, training sessions, and project progress meetings. They used files and portfolios to record everything that is done for their project because at the end of the day the whole process involved in doing their project is evaluated and the grades contribute to their final grades.
Students were able to plan and manage their project activities. They learned to supervise themselves and organize their project activities.
They learned a crucial role of team working and time management.
They had more than five courses running at the same time and they had to work on their projects. They worked very hard to ensure that they effectively and efficiently accomplish both tasks as required. Some of the students had the following to share;
“It was not easy, we had a lot of assignments…..but our teamwork has not just ended in class; we are planning to do something big together…”
Another one said;
“I have acquired skills in data collection and analysis. I have also learned that Micro-entrepreneurs need a lot of information and it is our duty as information professionals to address their information needs as much as we can”
Active teaching and learning methods helped students to gain multiple skills.
One of the students had this to say;
“I am happy with these new active teaching and learning methods;
they have helped me to build self-confidence, enhanced my team working spirit, time management and helped me to be a hard worker”
One of the projects which were done by students was a research-based assignment provided by a real company based in Finland to research the social-economic benefits of certified and conventional farmers at Mamsera village in Rombo. One team consisting of four students took the assignment. They wrote a proposal, prepared data collection tools, collected data, analyzed it and wrote a report.
Picture 1. Students collecting data at Mamsera village in Rombo (Field data 2019).
Pictures 2 and 3. Students collecting data at Mamsera village in Rombo (Field data 2019).
Evaluation
Evaluation forms the basis of the teaching and learning process.
According to the rules and regulations stipulated by the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU), all higher learning institutions in Tanzania should examine their students. The examination should consist of continuous assessment (Coursework) and the final examination.
Continuous assessment is flexible and differs from one lecturer to another in terms of assignments, tests, and coverage. It carries 40%
while the final examination (End of semester written examination) carries 60%. The two pilot phases were not complete without evaluation. Evaluation of the pilot courses consisted of two parts;
continuous assessment (Course work) and the final examination. The continuous assessment consisted of 40% which focused on evaluating the whole learning process and the final written examination consisted of a mandatory end of semester written exam which carries 60%.
The continuous assessment covered all piloted innovation pedagogy elements i.e reading cycles, training sessions, projects, and one written test. Among these, it was only the written test which was evaluated by the lecturer/coach alone. Marks distribution tested on aspects like the ability of an individual to work in a team, critical thinking and argumentation, ability to effectively communicate with others, flexibility and commitment in working with others in a team and as an individual. Other aspects considered during the evaluation were the ability to engage others in a class presentation, individual creativity in projects and the end product for a project. Apart from formal evaluation, students had a chance to provide feedback and air out their opinion on innovation pedagogy. One of them had the following views.
“The evaluation session was very useful to me, not only in classroom sessions but also in my daily life. I have developed the habit of evaluating myself by asking the big four questions;
what is good? What was not good/ what could have been done differently? What lessons have I learned and what to put into practice”
Through the use of FinTan approach students are actively engaged in the learning process. The engagement of students referred here ranges from simple questions and answers in the classroom to organized problem based learning exercises and simulation to practical experiential learning in the community outside the university environment, popularly known as University - Industrial Linkage (UIL).
The target is to make learning both theoretical and practical by putting theoretical aspects learned through lecturers, learning sessions and reading cycle immediately into practice through projects that provide solutions to real-life problems.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the process of developing a new active teaching and learning model for Higher Education Institutions in Tanzania led to several insights to students, teachers and other education stakeholders. Both theoretical and practical training matters related to innovative pedagogy utilizing the synergy of the Finnish and Tanzanian education systems were identified and utilized with the primary focus on improving the connections to working life that is integrated into the curricula.
References
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Belaineh, M.S. (2017). Students’ conception of learning environment and their approach to learning and its implication on quality education. Educational Research and Reviews, Vol. 12(14). Available https://academicjournals.org/ERR»
Hu, W. and Wang, X. (2019). Balancing University Teaching and Media Industry Needs:A Case Study of Teaching Finance and Economics News Translation. International Journal of Higher Education Vol. 8, No. 3. Available http://ijhe.sciedupress.com
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Kahamba, J., Massawe, F.A and Kira, E. S. (2017). Awareness and Practice of Gender Responsive Pedagogy in Higher Learning Institutions: The Case of Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania. Journal of Education, Humanities and Sciences, Volume 6 No. 2, 2017: 1–16.»
Penttilä, T. (2016). Developing Educational Organizations With Innovation Pedagogy.IJAEDU- International E-Journal of Advances in Education, Vol. 2, Issue 5.